The CoE and EU are distinct in membership and nature. The CoE is a 47-member international organisation dealing with human rights and rule of law, while the EU is a quasi-federal union of 27 states focused on economic integration and political cooperation. Today, the flag is mostly associated with the latter.

It was the intention of the CoE that the flag should come to represent Europe as a whole, and since its adoption the membership of the CoE covers nearly the entire continent. This is why the EU adopted the same flag. The flag has been used to represent Europe in sporting events and as a pro-democracy banner outside the Union.

flag contains 12 stars (special formation of the stars: five-point-stars, all upright, equally spaced on a central circle whose radius is one 3rd of the flag height (like the 12 hours on a circular clock); each star is regular and placed on a circle whose radius is one 18th of the flag height.).

there is no likelihood of the user of the emblem being confused with the European Community or the Council of Europe;

the emblem is not used in connection with objectives or activities which are incompatible with the aims and principles of the European Community or of the Council of Europe.

Permission to use the European emblem does not confer on those to whom it is granted any right of exclusive use, nor does it allow them to appropriate the emblem or any similar trademark or logo, either by registration or any other means. Each case will be examined individually to ascertain whether it satisfies the criteria set out above. This will be unlikely in a commercial context if the European emblem is used in conjunction with a company's own logo, name or trade mark.

This image shows a flag, a coat of arms, a seal or some other official insignia. The use of such symbols is restricted in many countries. These restrictions are independent of the copyright status.

For the file format and data

The following licence only covers the creation of the file, not the flag's graphical design itself.

Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse

I, the copyright holder of this work, release this work into the public domain. This applies worldwide.In some countries this may not be legally possible; if so:I grant anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.